Jason Oberholtzer

Occasionally, Dan Wilbur and Jason Oberholtzer need some time off from writing genre-redefining books based on blogs. They usually watch movies. Then email about them. Spoilers below.

Jason Oberholtzer: So I saw this movie, Wreck-It Ralph. It wasn’t ground-breaking but it looked really pretty, made me think about graphics and how kids these days are super visually spoiled* and then left me with heart-warming messages of friendship. Maybe it’s because I’m in the midst of one of those intellectual cycles where you return to simple foundational messages or because I watched the movie with an audience of families together for Thanksgiving but I enjoyed the movie and am not ashamed to say it got a little misty in there.

* Remember how lifeless this sort of animation used to be? Computer-rendered movies were hit or miss (with some massive misses) when I was a kid. Same thing with 3D. Something, something, damn kids … my lawn …

I hope nobody is too disappointed to learn there is no physical confrontation in this clip — although Mailer did (1) head-butt Vidal in the greenroom immediately prior to this taping (2) punch Vidal at a party over a bad review. There is however verbal sparring of a caliber not to be found in what passes for confrontation on TV these days. Sure, the premise of this argument is basically matching wits for the sake of matching wits, but that doesn’t make it any less refreshing for that to be the emphasis of the exchange. Consider this clip a cleanser for the hot garbage that comprised the first Presdential Debate.

His name is Stanley. He is an old man. He is often rather eloquent in his own halting, measured way. Sometimes he is frustrating to watch — both because his opinions occasionally veer off course and because his camera and microphone do not work very well — but these limitations are endearing. He has strong opinions and awesome hats. Recently, he introduced a Dora the Explorer doll as a character in his videos. Enjoy some of his best work.

Nick is Krispy’s #1 fan and I’m sure if he was writing this post it would be 1500 words lavishing praise on KK for his bold new step into the mainstream. Too bad I’m editing the site this week — KK gets no such free ride.

You all remember the Cha Cha Slide right? You know, the song/dance that tells you to “slide to the left; slide to the right.” Reverse! Reverse! Anyway, I bet most of you don’t know that Juggalos have their own version of this song. Well they do.

In 2009, the Insane Clown Posse released an album called Bang! Pow! Boom! that included a track called Chop Chop Slide, parodying the popular cha cha dance track with lyrics about murder, swearing, being the shit and getting loose. Just like the original song, all you have to do to do the dance is listen to the song and follow along.

There are a few fan versions of the Chop Chop Slide on YouTube, but this one is my favorite by a long shot.

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Harasha Dule

Never Look Back

Four-year-old nudist Nicholas Barbum had it all — the job, the house, the girl — but was still missing one thing, happiness. He’d spent most of his life on the move, running since he’d gotten his legs under him some three years earlier. Maybe it was time to slow down, or at least that’s what his therapist told him. One cloudy July morning, Nicholas told his therapist to go fuck herself and set off on a journey that would change his life.